"Instead of doing things like sending people out on surveys, or having them undertake a mission, the drone can do it all and it reduces the exposure of humans to risk," he said.

At the annual Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie in August, Mining Education Australia director Steve Hall said change was needed in vocational training centres and universities to keep up with changing technology.

"I think the old style of thinking was more around the 'double degree' but what we're talking about is called micro-credentialing," he said.

He also predicted there would be more jobs in the mining, equipment, technology and services companies, rather than within mining companies themselves.

Director of market analysis firm Iron Ore Research, Phillip Kirchlechner, said one of the catalysts was a speech by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in which he said China would meet its 6.5 per cent GDP growth target.

But he did not think it would change much from that level.

"I think $US50–60 is a reasonable band it will trade within for the rest of the year, although there will be some volatility above and below that," Mr Kirchlechner said at the time.

However, the price went as high as almost $US80, and at the time of writing was fetching $US74 on the spot market — exactly the same as at this time last year.

Given that it is estimated that a $US10 change in the iron ore price is worth $2.5 billion to the Federal Government, the price is important.

That correlation is likely one of the reasons Treasurer Scott Morrison used an iron ore price assumption of $US55 in the MYEFO two years ago after being hammered for heroic assumptions in budgets past.

Coal prices still on the strong side

After iron ore, coal is Australia's second-most valuable export.

There are two types of coal — coking coal, also known as metallurgical coal, which is used as an ingredient to make steel, and thermal coal used to make heat and power.

Both had unexpected and spectacular price rises in 2016 of $US300/t for coking and $US100 for thermal.

They have fluctuated, but those strong prices are there again as 2017 draws to a close.

Thermal coal bound for Japan from the Port of Newcastle is fetching more than $US100 tonne as 2017 closes.

Six months later and coal analyst Mike Cooper from Platts Global said they had.

"Coal has had a very strong finish to the year. Newcastle thermal coal prices, the current price for the grade that goes to Japan, are trading around the $US100/t mark, on their way to $US105," he said.

"The Newcastle 55 grade of coal that goes up to China, the Chinese grade, has been trading in the doldrums around $US70. But it's starting to shift upwards now."

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